Error when loading Rails server (Rails 4) - ruby-on-rails

Question

I had a running app with no problem and just did bundle update and bundle install and now.
I had not bundle updated for the past 4 months I think.
Now when I run $ rails s, I have this error:
".../gems/sprockets-2.12.3/lib/sprockets/manifest.rb:65:in `read': Is a directory - .../public/assets (Errno::EISDIR)"!
mathieu-To-be-filled-by-O-E-M:~/rails_projects/mathieu_app$ rails s
DEPRECATION WARNING: Support for Rails < 4.1.0 will be dropped. (called from require at /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/bundler-1.5.3/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:76)
=> Booting WEBrick
=> Rails 4.0.12 application starting in development on http://0.0.0.0:3000
=> Run `rails server -h` for more startup options
=> Ctrl-C to shutdown server
DEPRECATION WARNING: Model based mass assignment security has been extracted
out of Rails into a gem. Please use the new recommended protection model for
params or add `protected_attributes` to your Gemfile to use the old one.
To disable this message remove the `whitelist_attributes` option from your
`config/application.rb` file and any `mass_assignment_sanitizer` options
from your `config/environments/*.rb` files.
See http://guides.rubyonrails.org/security.html#mass-assignment for more information.
Exiting
/home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/sprockets-2.12.3/lib/sprockets/manifest.rb:65:in `read': Is a directory - /home/mathieu/rails_projects/mathieu_app/public/assets (Errno::EISDIR)
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/sprockets-2.12.3/lib/sprockets/manifest.rb:65:in `initialize'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/sprockets-rails-2.2.2/lib/sprockets/railtie.rb:105:in `new'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/sprockets-rails-2.2.2/lib/sprockets/railtie.rb:105:in `block in <class:Railtie>'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:36:in `call'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:36:in `execute_hook'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:45:in `block in run_load_hooks'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:44:in `each'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:44:in `run_load_hooks'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb:62:in `block in <module:Finisher>'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `instance_exec'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `run'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in `block in run_initializers'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p451/lib/ruby/2.0.0/tsort.rb:150:in `block in tsort_each'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p451/lib/ruby/2.0.0/tsort.rb:183:in `block (2 levels) in each_strongly_connected_component'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p451/lib/ruby/2.0.0/tsort.rb:219:in `each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p451/lib/ruby/2.0.0/tsort.rb:182:in `block in each_strongly_connected_component'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p451/lib/ruby/2.0.0/tsort.rb:180:in `each'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p451/lib/ruby/2.0.0/tsort.rb:180:in `each_strongly_connected_component'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p451/lib/ruby/2.0.0/tsort.rb:148:in `tsort_each'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `run_initializers'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/application.rb:215:in `initialize!'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/railtie/configurable.rb:30:in `method_missing'
from /home/mathieu/rails_projects/mathieu_app/config/environment.rb:5:in `<top (required)>'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:229:in `require'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:229:in `block in require'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:214:in `load_dependency'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/activesupport-4.0.12/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:229:in `require'
from /home/mathieu/rails_projects/mathieu_app/config.ru:3:in `block in <main>'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/builder.rb:55:in `instance_eval'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/builder.rb:55:in `initialize'
from /home/mathieu/rails_projects/mathieu_app/config.ru:in `new'
from /home/mathieu/rails_projects/mathieu_app/config.ru:in `<main>'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/builder.rb:49:in `eval'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/builder.rb:49:in `new_from_string'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/builder.rb:40:in `parse_file'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/server.rb:277:in `build_app_and_options_from_config'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/server.rb:199:in `app'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/commands/server.rb:48:in `app'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#global/gems/rack-1.5.2/lib/rack/server.rb:314:in `wrapped_app'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/commands/server.rb:75:in `start'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/commands.rb:76:in `block in <top (required)>'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/commands.rb:71:in `tap'
from /home/mathieu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p451#rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/railties-4.0.12/lib/rails/commands.rb:71:in `<top (required)>'
from bin/rails:4:in `require'
from bin/rails:4:in `<main>'
My gem list:
source 'https://rubygems.org'
ruby "2.0.0" # source: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/ruby-versions
# Rails 4
gem 'rails', "~> 4.0.3"
# Gems supporting Rails 4 core architecture
gem 'actionpack-action_caching'
gem 'actionpack-page_caching'
gem 'activerecord-session_store'
gem 'activeresource'
gem 'rails-observers'
gem 'turbolinks'
gem 'pg'
gem 'anjlab-bootstrap-rails', :require => 'bootstrap-rails',
:github => 'anjlab/bootstrap-rails',
:branch => '3.0.0'
gem 'devise' # authentification
gem 'cancan' # authorization
gem 'rolify', :git => 'git://github.com/EppO/rolify.git' # role management library with resource scoping, added fork due to bug source - stackoverflow.com/questions/13712012/error-pushing-to-heroku-aborting-my-rake-assetsprecompile?rq=1
gem 'figaro' # rails app configuration and keep private stuff...private
gem 'sendgrid' # sendgrid gem
gem 'faker' # to create fake user accounts
gem 'will_paginate' # pagination method
gem 'bootstrap-will_paginate' # configure will_paginate gem to bootstrap pagination style
gem 'font-awesome-rails' # pure css icons
gem 'validates_timeliness' # methods and validations for dates formats
gem 'validate_url' # for URL validations in forms
gem 'dotiw' # overrides the default distance_of_time_in_words and provides a more accurate output
gem 'friendly_id'
# Forms with formtastic
gem 'formtastic'
gem 'formtastic-bootstrap'
# Active admin stuff
gem 'activeadmin', github: 'gregbell/active_admin' # added github because of deployment issue wiht jquery ui http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16844411/rails-active-admin-deployment-couldnt-find-file-jquery-ui
gem 'sass-rails', '~> 4.0.1' # Master branch not OK with Rails 4, hence we point to branch that comply with Rails 4
gem 'kaminari' #'0.14.1' active admin needs kaminari for pagination; blocked on 0.14.1 because if not get nomethod error per_page kaminari https://github.com/sferik/rails_admin/issues/1868 and https://github.com/amatsuda/kaminari/issues/481
gem 'postgres_ext' # gives a nice set of query methods & Adds missing native PostgreSQL data types to ActiveRecord and convenient querying extensions for ActiveRecord and Arel for Rails 4.x
gem 'jquery-rails'
gem 'chosen-rails'
gem 'coffee-rails', '~> 4.0.1' # Master branch not OK with Rails 4, hence we point to branch that comply with Rails 4 by default
gem 'uglifier'
# Geocoding and locations
gem 'geocoder'
gem 'country-select'
group :production do
gem 'rails_12factor'
end
group :development do
gem 'quiet_assets' # mutes assets pipeline log messages
gem 'better_errors' # improve error pages
# retrieve binding of a method's caller in MRI 1.9.2+, only for debugging
gem 'binding_of_caller', platforms: [:mri_19, :rbx]
end
group :development, :test do
gem 'perftools.rb', require: 'perftools' # used to find tasks taking long time (ex when test are too long)
gem 'guard', '>=2.1.0'
gem 'guard-rspec'
gem 'guard-rails-assets'
gem 'rspec-rails'
gem 'factory_girl_rails'
gem 'pry-rails'
gem 'rspec-collection_matchers'
gem 'i18n-tasks'
end
group :test do
gem 'capybara'
gem 'selenium-webdriver' -ex: flash error messages...
gem 'capybara-webkit' -ex: flash error messages...
gem 'rb-inotify'
gem 'libnotify'
gem 'database_cleaner'
gem 'email_spec'
gem 'cucumber-rails', :require => false #
gem 'launchy'
gem 'shoulda-matchers'
gem 'minitest'
gem 'guard-zeus-client'

Answer 1

If you look in the source code of the sprockets gem (where the error is coming from) you can see that the error is being raised by these lines:
63 begin
64 if File.exist?(#path)
65 data = json_decode(File.read(#path))
66 end
67 rescue MultiJson::DecodeError => e
68 logger.error "#{#path} is invalid: #{e.class} #{e.message}"
69 end
Line 65 is the problem, specifically File.read(#path) - as shown by your error message (sprockets-2.12.3/lib/sprockets/manifest.rb:65:in `read').
Basically, #path is supposed to be a string representing a filename but it's actually pointing to a directory, which is causing File.read to fail. #path is supposed to be pointing to your asset's manifest file (usually created automatically by Sprockets) and I'm not sure why it's getting the incorrect path here - do you have anything that looks relevant to your manifest file in config/application.rb or in your environment config files? What about in app/assets/javascripts/application.js or app/assets/stylesheets/application.css?
Try editing your local copy of sprockets yourself (run "cd `bundle show sprockets`" from your app's directory to find it) and adding puts #path before line 65 above (just make sure you remember to remove it when you're done!) - what does it say?

Answer 2

Hmm... Is it possible that you have Sprocket and structure has been changed, or something like that?
Have you tried to remove that directory ( or just rename it )? This guy removed directory mentioned in error and it worked fine: Trying to install rails- EISDIR error .
There seems to be newer version, have you tried to update? (https://rubygems.org/gems/sprockets-rails)
NOTE: This should be comment but I don't have enough reputation for that...

Answer 3

Removing or commenting out this line of code in development.rb solves the problem:
config.assets.manifest = Rails.root.join("public/assets")